Tag: sports

When phrases change meanings with the times

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The last time I was up at my parents’ house, I was rummaging through some old personal effects, and came across an old binder of basketball cards.

It’s funny to admit this nowadays given the fact that they royally suck, and have been more or less the laughing stock of the NBA over the last decade or so, but back in the 90s, I was a huge New York Knicks fan.  John Starks, Anthony Mason, Charles Oakley, Derek Harper, and of course, the franchise himself, Patrick Ewing.  Loved them all.  Rooted for the Knicks against everyone, including Michael Jordan and the Bulls.  I felt sports-heartbreak in 1994, when the Knicks came so close, and lost to Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets in the Finals.  Was even too young to understand the magnitude of the OJ Simpson police chase, and was more irked that a championship game was being preempted.

The point is, I had a ton of Knicks basketball cards in this binder.  Primarily Patrick Ewing, because he was clearly the primary star of the team.  And while flipping through the sheets and sheets of Ewing cards, I came across this particular Ewing card from a ’95-96 Fleer set.

Continue reading “When phrases change meanings with the times” →

Time to become a Carolina Panthers fan

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

That’s right, eight losses, one tie.  PLAYOFF TEAM!

Despite the fact that I kind of wanted the Falcons to win, so that the minute hope of the worst Super Bowl champion in history might’ve been a team from Atlanta, when the day was over, I didn’t really care.  The 7-win Carolina Panthers are going to be my new favorite team for the next few weeks, provided they can manage to stay alive in the playoffs, and hopefully fulfill the embarrassing dream of being the worst team in history to make it into the playoffs and become Super Bowl champions.

Seriously, there’s all sorts of wrong with the playoff system, when the 7-8-1 Carolina Panthers not only make it into the playoffs, but actually get a home game.  To put it into perspective how ironically funny this is, the Philadelphia Eagles finished the season 10-6, and are going to be sitting at home watching the playoffs next week.  The San Francisco 49ers finished 8-8, and just fired their head coach.  Meanwhile in the AFC, the Bills, Texans, Chiefs and Chragers (yes) all finished 9-7, and are not in the playoffs.

Continue reading “Time to become a Carolina Panthers fan” →

NFLOL

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I can’t say that I’ve paid much attention to the embarrassment that was once known as the NFL this season, so I can’t really say I’m coherently aware of who the best quarterback is, what previously thought-to-be-unbreakable record is being threatened, or even who the last undefeated team was before their inevitable defeat, prompting the old tryhard 1979 Miami Dolphins team to pop champagne in celebration.

But I have been somewhat aware of the fact that the NFC South division has been pretty pathetic this season, mostly on account of the fact that it’s where the Atlanta Falcons play, and it’s impossible for me to not hear about the Falcons from time to time.

As we approach the final week of the regular season, there are lots of question marks, hypotheticals, teams that need help from other teams, and so forth, that is the calculus of seeding those teams privileged to make it into the playoffs, and a glimmer of hope at making it, and possibly winning the Super Bowl.  However, there is one thing that is very much definite, and just as much embarrassing:

A team with seven wins is going to win the NFC South division.*  A team with seven wins is going to make the playoffs, and have a chance to make it to the Super Bowl.

Continue reading “NFLOL” →

When winning is all that matters

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Lest I look like I’m turning my brog into something of a sports brog, running two straight posts with Kobe Bryant, it’s all part of my loose rules of brogging that anything goes as long as the thoughts and words are my own.  But bear with me, this’ll probably be the last post about basketball for a while, since the thoughts aren’t necessarily about basketball, but more about personalities, and rare ones at that.

But anyway, supposedly within the next 1-2 games that Kobe Bryant plays in, he’s going to pass Michael Jordan for 3rdplace of all-time points scored.  It’s debatable on whether or not he’s going to be able to catch and pass Karl Malone for #2, but I think it’s a safe bet that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 points is going to be safe for yet another challenger.

When I was younger, my then, also-basketball loving friends and I would often talk about who “the Next Jordan” was going to be.  And believe you me, it was a debate that occurred everywhere, where there was basketball to be discussed.  Michael Jordan was nearing the end of his (official, pre-Wizards) career, and it was a rhetorical question that popped up every few years when the reality sunk in that MJ wasn’t going to play forever.

Continue reading “When winning is all that matters” →

Being right vs. What I want

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Despite being the world’s worst baseball fan, there are still two things I have been following as it pertains to this season’s, Atlanta Braves-less MLB playoffs.  The first are the San Francisco Giants, who are a team that I dislike on account of their smarmy fanbase, overrated ballpark, and the city they represent.  However, the Giants represent a theory that I, among many snarky baseball fans have jokingly bought into, and there’s an intrigue in seeing if it comes to fruition or not:

The Giants win every even-numbered season.

Granted, it’s only been two instances, but still, that’s two more championships than most other franchises, much less the Braves have seen in their franchises’ histories.  But with titles won in 2010 and 2012, I’ve been saying that 2014 is destined to be their year as well, and that if nobody can keep the Giants out of the playoffs, than there may as well not be any playoffs, because another championship is all but inevitable.

Continue reading “Being right vs. What I want” →

One hell of a detour

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I had intended on going to AWA this year.  I actually had a pretty decent time the previous year, since I went for just a single day, and I took a good amount of pictures, and the venue was a good place to take said pictures, which made me happy.  I hung out with some friends occasionally, and in spite of the fact that most of the people there made me feel even more ancient than my self-perception of my age is, I had a pleasant time.

I was kind of hoping to replicate that experience again this year; especially after the quality debacle I engaged in at Dragon*Con with the pictures I took, I kind of wanted some redemption.

Well, none of that happened.

Continue reading “One hell of a detour” →

We interrupt the following program for this announcement

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Ohio State sucks.  Bahahahahahahahahahaha

I love Virginia Tech football and all, but seriously, I didn’t even watch this game, because I thought it was such a foregone conclusion, that it wasn’t even worth watching.  #8 Ohio State versus an unranked Hokie squad slapped with the dreaded “rebuilding” tag, helmed by a coach known for his innovation with special teams?

Thanks to sports superstition, I have the belief that truly crucial games are best not being seen, because watching them will undoubtedly cause my preferred teams to lose.  That didn’t apply in this case, because I figured Ohio State was going to win something like 49-9 with the Hokies only being able to muster up three field goals, so I didn’t watch because I didn’t want to watch the seemingly inevitable slaughter.

Continue reading “We interrupt the following program for this announcement” →